Hellyeah are back with their new album, ‘Blood for Blood,’ and the band’s legendary drummer, Vinnie Paul, took a few moments to chat with ‘Loudwire Nights’ host Full Metal Jackie about the disc. He also reflects on his Texas roots and shares his thoughts on the band’s upcoming dates with Five Finger Death Punch and Volbeat. Check out the chat below.

It’s Full Metal Jackie from Loudwire Nights, Vinnie Paul from Hellyeah with us on the show with us. The new Hellyeah album, in stores now. Vinnie, you’ve been through plenty of band drama over the years. Musically how can that dysfunction be the catalyst that turns into something good? Specifically in the case of this new album, ‘Blood for Blood’?

Well for us we wanted to make the best for our fans man and the focus just wasn’t there with Greg [Tribbett] and Bob [Zilla], and when we started writing material we felt like they were just weighing us down and we had to move on. Unfortunately we had to let them go. For us to make this record that is what it took, and it really enabled Tom [Maxwell] to really focus and to become the focal point of the guitar playing, and for me to really focus on the drums, and for Chad [Gray] to really bring everything that he had to the table. It was really liberating like we had this big weight lifted out of us.

The three of us wrote and recorded the record. We did it with Kevin [Churko], which was amazing, and then we worried about putting the live band together after we finished the record. We brought on Kyle [Sanders] and Chris [Brady] on board it has just been a dream, man. It’s been awesome, we just finished a two-and-a-half month tour with Avenged Sevenfold all over the U.S. and Canada. I don’t remember being in a band that felt this comfortable in a long time, it just feels great the positive energy is incredible. The band has never sounded better. Sometimes you have to make changes to get things better.

Vinnie, was there a specific point during recording where you felt that this album is going to be killer?

I thought that way going into the record before we even got to Las Vegas. We recorded all the demos here at my house, and me and Tom had written all the music. I just felt like it was a strongest music that we had ever written with Hellyeah. I don’t know what exactly it was, it just it felt right. It had the grooves that I wanted. It had the guitars that we wanted. It was just solid from start to finish and then as they started to become songs in Las Vegas and Chad started working with Kevin we could really see what was happening.

Probably the first song that we actually finished was ‘Moth,’ and that just seems like an odd one because the record is so heavy but Chad was really drawn to that song musically. From that point on I knew the record was going to be special it was going to be special. It just felt right its sounded great, and really getting to work with Chad has really brought a new light to the band and he got the very, very best out of all of us.

Everyone knows how much you love the camaraderie of the metal community. When you’re not onstage yourself, you like hanging out onstage and watching other bands. Keeping that in mind, what are you looking forward to the most about the fall tour with Volbeat, Five Finger Death Punch and Nothing More?

Well first thing is that I am a fan of all those bands so it is going to be exciting for me every night. Not just to get up and play in front of the audience but to get to watch those bands, to get to see them play and just the package itself is just really really a value for anybody that is a fan. It’s doing so well that it looks like they might add an actual second leg of the tour, another 30 days or so. We are excited about that. It’s just going to be an awesome tour. They’re all friends, they’re all bros, and it’s exciting.

Vinnie, through the eyes of a kid growing up in Texas who loves music, especially metal, is it a little surreal to look back and see how much you’ve accomplished and know you’re so highly regarded as a player?

I tell people this all the time, I don’t live in the past, I live in the future I want to live for today and what I have done now. I really don’t do a whole lot of reflecting and looking back other than the fact that I am proud to be from Texas. I think that it was a different mindset back then when we were coming up. Back then it almost seemed like everyone who made it had to come from Los Angeles or New York, and we really didn’t fit that mold. We were kind of outcasts, I think that is one of the reasons why things were different and special back then and being from here today is so great. I love this place. I will never move away from Texas, although I do have a house in Las Vegas now that I love, but it’s just great being from here. I don’t really reflect on that stuff too much.

Appreciate you being on the show, looking forward to this fall tour and congrats on this awesome new album.

Thank you for supporting us, thank you for playing us, and get your ass in a car and come see us play somewhere.

Our thanks to Hellyeah’s Vinnie Paul for the interview. You can pick up ‘Blood for Blood’ at iTunes and on Amazon. You can listen to ‘Loudwire Nights’ with host Full Metal Jackie Monday through Friday at 7PM through Midnight on more than 20 stations across America. To find out where you can hear ‘Loudwire Nights,’ click here.

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